Core 2 Duo MBO Round-up: Part 3
Author: Josip Brombauer
Date: 15 Nov 2006

Part 3 of our ongoing Conroe MBO test presents two candidates from ASUS, feature-wise targeted at the mainstream market. The boards in question are ASUS P5B and ASUS P5DL2 SE. While the first is essentially just a cut-down version of the more popular P5B Deluxe MBO with the P965 chipset, the latter is a 945P veteran currently enjoying a second youth due to a fresh PCB revision. Find out more on the following pages?


ASUS P5B

Unlike the lavishly equipped P5B Deluxe model clearly targeting the high-end, the regular P5B has its sights set much lower. The base of the board is the excellent P965 chipset which is responsible for the great performance figures shown in our benchmarks. The additional goodies, however, leave a lot to be desired, but this is to be expected in the mainstream market segment. The difference is clearly visible when you first take a look at the yellowish PCB (as opposed to the sleek black of the Deluxe), and simple aluminium heatsinks on the chipset. No heat-pipes there, unfortunately. The power regulation for the CPU doesn?t even come close to that on the Deluxe, and the board features only a 4-pin 12V power connector.
There is just one PCI-E x16 slot present, with three each of PCI-E x1 and regular PCI slots. You may connect up to two IDE and four internal SATA 3G devices. Six USB 2.0 channels are available out-of-the-box (two on an additional bracket), though you will have purchase more brackets if you plan on utilising the full 10 USB ports supported by the chipset. The sound is an 8-channel ADI SoundMAX AD1988A codec, while the Gigabit LAN is taken care of by the Realtek RTL8111B Ethernet controller.
In addition, the I/O panel houses two PS/2 ports, an LPT port, both an optical & coaxial S/PDIF-out, as well as one eSATA connector.
The BIOS has all the bells and whistles normally associated with this product class and will allow you to setup your system easily, even dabble in some overclocking if you so desire.